Pajiba: Sweetened by Mock, Lightened by Droll

SHIELD is starting to get quite exciting, if only because we are getting to see a Whedon show develop from the ground up. Maybe I just missed it last time around, but it seems at least like the entire engine of sneak peaks, and incremental glimpses of development wasn’t this total when Whedon brought “Dollhouse” to air, or “Firefly” before that. I’m the sort of person who owns the ten volume set of Tolkien’s notes and drafts that show how Lord of the Rings gradually came together, so I’m interested more from seeing the way the story and characters evolve as it comes together than necessarily getting the rush of a sneak peak.

In any case, here is the new footage, a video showcasing two of the ensemble cast, namely the two nerds that do all the fancy science stuff for SHIELD.

These are the sort of characters that are the irritating background characters of most procedurals, who get walked all over by the fancy protagonists and only get to shine in their carefully crafted niches or in their own very special episode once every couple of seasons. With something being run by Whedon though, you get the feeling that they will be the very best of the characters. It’s funny thinking about that, how there really on paper isn’t much of a difference most of the time between brilliance and disaster in entertainment. All the magic is in the detail work, which hearkens back to that old cliche about there only really being seven stories, or one story, or whatever number the list you’re looking at happens to have.

I was thinking as I commented that I was sure I saw some color in the earlier stuff released, but then I scrolled back up to the picture and figured if the character isn't in the press materials then the character shouldn't be considered part of the main cast. And I don't want to come off as though Ming-Na Wen "doesn't count" or anything stupid like that. I just look at this as basically the perfect opportunity to Captain Planet a cast with little to no blowback seeing as they are clearly going for the worldwide group of misfits thing. Just seems weird for the main crew to be so white.

Long_Pig_Tailor

Elizabeth Henstridge is the kind of pretty that is just distracting.

zeke_the_pig

That is an uncomfortable-as-fuck pose the lady on the left is holding. What is that? Is she trying to prevent her Loki-possessed kidneys from fly-kicking their way out of her torso and beating Coulson to death?

...If so, then...well, good. Carry on.

Stephanie

The woman next to her doesn't look too comfortable either. Who stands with their arms AND legs crossed?

I was thinking as I commented that I was sure I saw some color in the earlier stuff released, but then I scrolled back up to the picture and figured if the character isn't in the press materials then the character shouldn't be considered part of the main cast. And I don't want to come off as though Ming-Na Wen "doesn't count" or anything stupid like that. I just look at this as basically the perfect opportunity to Captain Planet a cast with little to no blowback seeing as they are clearly going for the worldwide group of misfits thing. Just seems weird for the main crew to be so white.